Don’t Be Fooled, Next Generation Games Will Not be $60

If you’ve been keeping up on your next generation console announcements than you’ve heard the next generation should keep to the $60 price tag for new games. But after reading a little further into their announcements, developer and publisher announcements, and the history of game prices, I’m not convinced that they’ll stay at this price.

Companies say that their games cost $60 right now, but even that isn’t entirely true. Sure, the most basic version of a new release costs $60, but what about the collector’s or limited edition? These easily cost an extra $20, and every new game these days seems to have a collector’s edition. Sometimes the extra bells and whistles are worth the extra $20, but it still makes the game cost more than $60.

Then you have DLC, another little chargeable option that can raise the price of your game by $5 to $20. Some games even have multiple DLCs, and to keep up with the content you’re going to be spending over $100 on a single game. For some titles the DLC is a totally unnecessary addition, but other games (like most FPS) have DLC in the form of map packs. If you want to keep on playing, you have to keep on paying.

If you’re buying the collector’s edition of a game, plus a DLC or two your game is already much more than $60. But let us not forget, the ever popular micro transaction systems! Not only can you buy DLC with real money, but you can buy in-game equipment, characters, and gold! Yet another way games end up costing us more than their $60 price tag.

That’s just this generation though. If we’re talking about next generation games there are other points that need to be addressed. Of course, DLC, collector’s editions, and micro transactions will still be as prevelant in next generation games as they are in the current gen, but we still have to wonder about the starting out price, and if it will stay at $60.

The headlines for both Sony and Microsoft’s announcements make it sound like all next generation games are going to be $60. But actually read these announcements, and that’s not what they are saying at all. First of all, they can’t say what other publishers outside of Sony and Microsoft are going to charge. It’s safe to say it’ll stay around $60, but no one can know for sure. At the same time, both company’s announcements were about the first years’ worth of games. No promises have been made for the next generation’s entire lifespan.

Don’t be fooled, the next generation games will not be $60. Our games right now aren’t $60, and I don’t think any company is going to make their next generation games sell for cheaper than the current gen.